Meghan and Harry – News Updates and IDs!

Happy New Year readers! Sorry it has taken us a bit to do a post — We have a few news updates for Meghan and Harry followed by a number of IDs from the recent Harry and Meghan documentary.

We start off with an announcement made shortly before the holidays that Archewell Foundation—Archetypes, has partnered with VING Project, a US-based giving movement, to give away $1 million in $1,000 grants to women in financial need, nominated by young people between the ages of 14 and 18 years old. The project was launched back in October of this year.

Netflix announced a new documentary series, Live to Lead, presented by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The series, inspired by the legacy of Nelson Mandela, focuses on effective leadership and is in collaboration with The Nelson Mandela Foundation, Blackwell & Ruth and Archewell productions — it premiered on December 31st.

Most recently Netflix announced a new documentary on their streaming service, Heart of Invictus, coming this Summer.

The new series is from Archewell Productions and follows a group of extraordinary competitors from around the world – all service members who have suffered life-changing injuries or illnesses – on their road to competing at the Invictus Games. This year’s Invictus Games will take place in Düsseldorf, Germany in September.

Finally, earlier this month Harry’s book, ‘Spare’ , was released. To promote and speak more about the book Harry participated in a number of interviews including 60-Minutes (CBS) with Anderson Cooper, iTV (UK) with Tom Bradby, Good Morning America (ABC) with Michael Strahan and an exclusive interview on The Late Show (CBS) with Stephen Colbert.

In a press release announcing his new memoir, Harry said —

I’ve worn many hats over the years, both literally and figuratively, and my hope is that in telling my story — the highs and lows, the mistakes, the lessons learned — I can help show that no matter where we come from, we have more in common than we think.”

Harry and Stephen Colbert pose for a selfie on The Late Show.

Below, Anderson Cooper and Harry left, and with Tom Bradby, right.

Spare can be ordered in the US here and in the UK here. It is also available for Kindle and in audio format on Audible and iTunes.

I listened to the book on Audible and have a few take-aways that address past stories and information we’ve included in posts that should be corrected. I’ve included some of those below.

• Diana’s Sapphire Engagement Ring vs her Cartier Gold Tank Watch — Back when we first saw Meghan wearing Princess Diana’s Cartier Tank Watch in all gold there was some debate around how Harry ended up with the watch. Initially the story was reported that Harry was given Princess Diana’s sapphire engagement ring and William had the Cartier watch, this was not the case. Harry revealed in his book that he never had her ring and that William apparently “had” it the whole time. While he didn’t elaborate much more on it, my guess is that each of Diana’s sons was left specific pieces from her jewelry collection. It would make sense for William to receive the sapphire ring as he was the eldest and first to be engaged.
• Meghan has worn a number of pieces from Diana’s jewelry collection that Harry gave to her—Diana’s Cartier Tank Watch in all gold, the sapphire and diamond butterfly earrings worn by Diana in 1986 as well as the ribbed sapphire and diamond bracelet that Diana wore with the butterfly earrings on a number of occasions. One of the first pieces Meghan was given from Diana’s collection is the emerald cut aquamarine ring which she wore to her and Harry’s wedding reception. Another piece Meghan has been seen wearing is Diana’s diamond tennis bracelet.

The next piece of information that Harry shared in his book is about how when Meghan was meeting Charles for the first time. He advised Meghan that she should wear her hair down and minimal makeup because “Charles prefers when women wear their hair down and not a lot of makeup”. The Queen also preferred that women wear their hair down. This reminded me of Meghan’s trip to Cheshire, UK with the Queen in June 2014. It was her first solo engagement with the Queen and Meghan wore her hair down. There was quite a bit of debate around why Meghan chose to wear her hair down for that engagement and the fact that she wasn’t wearing a hat. A hat was not protocol. As a matter of fact, there is no “royal dress code” or protocol around what they should wear other than not to outshine the Queen. Meghan wore a lot of neutral colors to blend into the background and not distract. We’re thinking this is why she choose to wear it down for that event.

Going back to Harry and Meghan’s engagement, we learned that he proposed on November 4, 2017 after asking the Queen’s permission.

When it came time for Meghan to plan for her veil and tiara for the wedding, it was Harry’s Aunt – Lady Sarah McCorquodale (Diana’s sister) who offered Meghan the Spencer tiara to wear. Then shortly before the wedding the Queen reached out to offer Meghan a tiara from the Royal Collection. The couple went over to the palace to meet with the Queen and there were five tiaras displayed on a table for her choose from — an emerald one, an aqua one and the Queen Mary bandeau tiara were among them. We know that she ultimately chose the Queen Mary bandeau. The Greville Emerald Kokoshnik tiara that Eugenie wore may or may not have been one of the tiaras.

UPDATE: One of our readers, Paisley, brought up a good point (see comments) – that the below Queen Victoria tiara is owned by the Fifes and on permanent loan for exhibit at Kensington Palace and could not have been one of the tiaras offered to Meghan. Apologies for not reading up more on this tiara before including it as a possibility. Still it is a stunning tiara!

We’re wondering if the emerald tiara was Queen Victoria’s Emerald and Diamond Tiara shown below.

The tiara was specially commissioned by Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert.

One last item to mention is when Harry and Meghan told the family they were expecting (Archie) in November 2018. There had been some debate around when the news was revealed and that it may have been at Eugenie and Jack’s wedding. It was actually just before the wedding at a drinks reception for Eugenie and Jack. The couple pulled Charles and Camilla aside in another room after the reception to share their happy news. They also told William and Kate that same night.

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And now for some fashion IDs from the Harry & Meghan documentary on Netflix. The documentary has become Netflix’s biggest documentary debut of all time with 2.4 million viewers when it aired on December 8th.

Since there is a lot to unpack, we may end up doing a part 2 post for all of the IDs. Keep in mind, many items were previously worn/ID’d over the years which you will see noted.

A recap of what we covered in our December 6th RFK Gala post –

Her blue/grey sweater has not yet been ID’d. It was originally thought to have been from an Etsy seller but the seller reached out to us and said it is not their sweater. Meghan’s sweater also had a different hemline with split sides.

Meghan’s sweater, below, is the La Ligne ‘Marin’ sweater in tan and red stripe, $295. The color is no longer available however there are a number of other styles to choose from.

The red and white pajamas she is wearing under the sweater appear to be the La Ligne ‘Bonne Nuit’ pajamas in red, $250. Although there are a lot of brands who carry red with white piping pajamas. The blanket just behind her is from Hermès, the Avalon III jacquard blanket, $1,625.

In another scene she wore the same pajamas in navy and white.

The dress she is wearing in the below photo is from Reformation – the ‘Ece’ dress. It is no longer available. She first wore the dress back in 2016.

The Duchess is a certainly a fan of the Reformation brand because in another snapshot from a 2016 vacation with her friend Benita Litt, Meghan is wearing the brand’s ‘Dianna’ 2-piece linen set.

This next photo shows Meghan wearing her J. Crew chambray shirt, $98 while in Botswana. It is a piece she has worn a number of times since 2015 including the first time we saw it on Suits as Rachel Zane – Season 4 Episode 16 “Not Just a Pretty Face” which aired on March 4, 2015 (below, left).

In an opening clip from the documentary, when Meghan is doing a video journal, we see her wearing the Misha Nonoo ‘Husband’ shirt in blue, $255. She also appears to be wearing her Sophie Lis Love Pendant (gold surround), $363. She was seen wearing the pendant a few times during the docuseries including a clip of Meghan in a video journal (below right).

In this next photo taken the night the couple attended the Mountbatten Festival of music, March 2020, Meghan is wearing the Safiyaa ‘Kalika’ Long Dress, in Scarlet Red, $$1,815.

Moving on to additional ID’s from the docuseries…

Sticking with the red theme, lets look at this image of Meghan trying on the Carolina Herrera Plunge Column Gown and Overskirt, $6254, we catch a glimpse of the shoes she wore for the fitting – the Aquazzura Soirée 105 in red, $995 (no longer available). She wore the gown for the Veteran’s Day Gala aboard the Intrepid ship, November 2021, New York City.

When Harry and Meghan were in Botswana for their 3rd date, August 2016, she wore a sarong in turquoise from Kudu Gear, $24. The piece is 100% cotton and made in Kenya. Her hat is the Madewell x Biltmore panama hat worn on a number of occasions over the years.

In a fun photobooth moment, Meghan can be seen wearing the Heidi Merrick ‘SRF LA’ classic hoodie in black with white lettering, $135. She also owns the hoodie in black with black lettering which she was seen wearing in a home video of the couple on the beach with Archie and Pula, their black lab.

In this next clip, Meghan is wearing a black crewneck sweater with ‘Nolite te bastardes carborundorum’ in white embroidered script from Lingua Franca’s Margaret Atwood collection, $380. The quote translates to “don’t let the bastards grind you down” from the author’s book The Handmaids Tale.

Comfy casual is Meghan’s go-to and another brand she loves is Mother Denim. In this next photo she is wearing the brand’s ‘Square’ c’est tres frais sweatshirt in coral (no longer available).

We’ll stop here and continue with more IDs in our next post! We hope you enjoy what we’ve shared so far! We’d also like to remind everyone that we do have a comment policy that can be found here. We expect everyone to be respectful to one another. Thank you.